Kozuki Oden's eyes were bloodshot, his entire face twisted like a demon.
With a single stroke, he unleashed his will and conviction. Blade in front, spirit behind... like a meteor cutting across the sky, bursting with the brilliant light of samurai spirit!
Weak black and red lightning stubbornly crackled and danced along the blade of the Meito, giving Kozuki Oden's strike a ferocity that even gods and demons would retreat from.
A long-lost tingling shot up Daren's spine. His eyelid twitched sharply, and he almost cursed out loud.
Conqueror's Haki infusion!
Kozuki Oden, that guy, while practically doing sit-ups, had faintly grasped Conqueror's Haki infusion!?
Am I really about to walk the same damn path as Kaidou?
But Daren had no time to think.
Kozuki Oden's meteor-like slash was far too fast. At this distance, there was no time to react at all.
Shhk!!
The blade wrapped in black and red lightning came crashing down!
A massive burst of blood exploded across Daren's chest. The dazzling, tyrannical sword light sent him flying back, hurtling hundreds of meters away and smashing through who knew how many coral buildings.
Boom...!
The thunderous collapse of coral structures shook the ground, and clouds of smoke and dust billowed everywhere.
Kozuki Oden finally broke free from Daren's "tyranny." At this point, his face—no, his entire body—was covered in wounds and blood, looking utterly devastated.
He nearly lost his footing, falling to one knee, leaning on Ame no Habakiri with his lone arm, gasping for breath.
Struggling to lift his swollen eyelids, his blood-soaked eyes locked onto a heap of ruins in the distance.
"What is this..."
Gaban and the rest of Roger's crew stared in shock at the scene, their expressions stunned before fiery excitement burst in their eyes.
"Could it be!?"
Gaban whipped his head toward Rayleigh, face full of excitement.
Rayleigh nodded with emotion, smiling warmly.
"He's finally taken that step."
Upon hearing this, everyone instinctively turned their eyes to their captain.
"Wahahahaha!! Oden, I knew you could do it!!"
Roger stood with hands on his hips, laughing loudly and proudly.
Conqueror's Haki infusion!
The highest mastery of Conqueror's Haki!
Kozuki Oden heard Roger's laughter and weakly turned his head, grinning through the pain.
"It's all thanks to your teaching, Captain Roger... This is the bond between us!"
One after another, familiar laughing faces flashed through his mind.
Whitebeard, Marco, Vista... Roger, Rayleigh, Gaban, Buggy, Shanks...
He clenched the Meito tightly, feeling a surge of strength he had never known.
Yes, I'm no longer the samurai who just set out to sea.
Now, I am the pirate Kozuki Oden!
I have my most precious companions!
...
Just then, an irritated, grumbling voice rang out from afar.
"Enough already. All of you shouting about 'friendship,' 'bonds,' and 'the future' while charging at me. It's stubborn and annoying as hell."
"I'm a Marine who represents 'justice,' not some evil villain, you know..."
Hearing that hoarse, cold voice, Kozuki Oden and all of Roger's crew stiffened.
They all turned their heads, locking eyes on the rising smoke.
Thud, thud, thud...
Steady, powerful footsteps echoed from within the smoke.
From the rolling smoke and dust, a pair of polished black military boots stepped forward.
Next came long, muscular legs, a sharp, immaculate black military uniform, a white cloak billowing fiercely in the wind, and finally, the haughty, rebellious face of the Marine Vice Admiral.
He half-closed his eyes, still biting down on the unburned cigar, as blood gushed steadily from the deep, bone-revealing wound on his chest.
"This brat's physique... Damn Indestructible Body!"
Rayleigh's heart trembled as he stared at Daren's current state in disbelief.
Oden's slash had been terrifyingly powerful—strong enough to bring down a dragon soaring through the skies, let alone a mere human.
But this Marine brat had relied on his Indestructible Body to forcibly withstand the blow!
Although he suffered heavy injuries, they were far from fatal.
What was even more terrifying was that despite such serious wounds, Daren still looked completely unfazed, his fighting strength and aura showing no signs of weakening!
This kind of monstrous endurance—Rayleigh and the others had only ever seen it in one person...
Kaidou of the Beasts, the strongest creature across land, sea, and air!
Daren twisted his neck slightly, his eyes starting to glow with a savage red light.
With the strength of his current body, he was already on par with Kaidou.
In the original story, although Kozuki Oden had managed to seriously injure Kaidou with one strike, it had still fallen short of delivering a fatal blow.
And now, Kozuki Oden hadn't even reached that peak state.
A mere critical wound...
Daren took a deep drag of his cigar and grinned at Kozuki Oden.
"Then..."
Kozuki Oden froze.
The Vice Admiral's figure suddenly vanished from his sight!
"Warm-up's over."
A cold sneer echoed down from above!
Explosion: Soru's Godspeed!
Kozuki Oden's face paled, and he instinctively looked up.
So fast...
An unbelievable thought flashed through his mind.
He wanted to call forth his Conqueror's Haki again, but to his horror, he realized his entire body had gone limp... His Haki was completely drained!
In his daze, he saw only a majestic, sacred snow-white cloak bloom before his eyes, the bold black characters for "Justice" swirling like a dragon.
The Marine Vice Admiral's massive hand shot out like a bolt of lightning, clamping over Kozuki Oden's head, completely obscuring his face.
The speed, the force—both were beyond imagination.
Then...
The hand pressed down viciously, smashing him straight into the ground!
Boom!!!
Everything within several hundred meters collapsed entirely, a deafening roar shaking the heavens, while smoke and shockwaves billowed in all directions.
Kozuki Oden's pupils rapidly lost focus. The combined effects of severe injuries and Haki exhaustion took hold, causing his aura to plummet at an alarming rate.
This was overwhelming brute force!
For a monster like Daren, blessed with a body of absurd durability and endless stamina, if an opponent's attack wasn't instantly fatal, he could drag any battle out and grind them down to death!
"It's over."
Daren held Kozuki Oden's head in one hand, lifting him high into the air like a broken rag doll.
Blood dripped steadily from the wounds covering Oden's body, pooling beneath him. Ame no Habakiri slipped helplessly from his slackening grip, and he was clearly on the verge of losing consciousness.
"Ryusoken..."
A fierce glint flashed in Daren's eyes as the black three-fingered dragon claw began gathering force.
"Dragon's Breath."
...
But in that instant—
The world itself seemed to freeze.
As if time had come to a standstill, an overwhelming storm of black-red lightning erupted, filling the entire sky in the blink of an eye.